From vacation to vocation and a life of service
A 2007 vacation in Nicaragua turned into a working-service trip for Michael Cipoletti ’99—one that clarified his life’s vocation.
Not only did the Central American country of six million people, most of whom live on $2 a day or less, capture his heart, it also set Michael Cipoletti ’99 on a path of full-time service there as well as in Peru and Dominican Republic.
In high school on Long Island and at Stonehill through the H.O.P.E. immersion program, Cipoletti had been involved with service abroad. H.O.P.E. stands for Honoring our neighbor, Organizing for justice, Practicing peace, Encountering God.
Over spring break in 1997, Cipoletti was one of 21 Stonehill students and four administrators, including Director of Campus Ministry, Rev. Daniel Issing, C.S.C., who, through H.O.P.E., participated in Stonehill’s first international volunteer mission.
On that trip to Nicaragua, they helped build three classrooms and the first high school in the rural town of Chacraseca.
After graduation, the philosophy major tried other ventures, including running a restaurant and importing granite, but none satisfied him professionally or personally. That 2007 Nicaraguan vacation became a turning point.
Finding Pathways
“I was missing something in my life and knew then what I really wanted to achieve. That’s what I have been doing for the past 13 years, finding pathways out of poverty in partnership with community leaders in three Latin American countries,” says Cipoletti, from Leon, Nicaragua’s second largest city where he spends eight months every year.
There Cipoletti serves as the executive director of FNE, a Boston-based nonprofit that partners with communities in Nicaragua, Peru and Dominican Republic on sustainable development, housing, building schools, supporting teachers, nutrition, and access to water.
Founded by Cipoletti, Anna DeSousa ’97 and Travis Kumph ’10 FNE stands for Facilitate, Network, Empower.
“Our mission is to be a source of hope and a catalyst in breaking the cycles of poverty while empowering those communities,” Cipoletti says in noting what happens when FNE volunteers come to Chacraseca, a town of 8,000 people near Leon.
“It is critical that volunteers live in the area and work with our team on food sovereignty, learning the local culture, history and challenges directly from the town’s residents. It is a life-changing experience—one that opens their eyes to the realities of living, indeed surviving, in the developing world today,” says Cipoletti.
Stonehill Connection
Much of the energy behind FNE comes from students and professional groups in the U.S. who support it financially and visit to perform service on the ground.
The Stonehill connection to FNE is considerable as four alumni in addition to Cipoletti are currently group leaders. Numerous others have been engaged at different levels.
Healthcare administration major Travis Kumph ’10 is in his second year as FNE president while fine arts major Dr. Kelvin Ramirez ’01 serves on its board of directors as does biochemistry major Robert Rosa ’14 and international studies major Benjamin Albert ’10.
All five point to their Stonehill H.O.P.E. or Service Corps experiences as being crucial in their commitment to social justice and service in Latin America.
Guided by Light and Hope
“While our work is not faith-based, the message of light and hope that inspired us as college students is central to FNE’s mission,” explains Kumph, who travelled to Peru with HOPE every year while at Stonehill. He also lived there for three months while completing a healthcare administration internship.
It was a Stonehill H.O.P.E. trip to Peru that showed Kelvin Ramirez, Professor of Expressive/Art Therapy at Lesley University, that he could use art to make a difference.
“That experience of encountering poverty in Peru from an intellectual and moral perspective prompted me to ask questions about my responsibilities as a global citizen and justice advocate,” notes Ramirez on his path to serving others, most recently in Dominican Republic with FNE.
As a student Robert Rosa participated in three H.O.P.E. immersions, one in West Virginia and two in Peru, once as a group leader, an experience that shaped his approach to service.
“I realized that really changing poverty or lack of education during a short spring break immersion is unlikely. So, I moved from simply being interested in serving to a more globally conscientious and systemic approach to achieving social justice,” says Rosa who is in a physician assistant program at Bryant University.
Although Ben Albert did not participate in H.O.P.E. immersions, he spent a post-year with the Stonehill Service Corps in India.
The associate director for strategic partnerships at KaBOOM!, Albert is known for co-creating and managing strategic partnership between Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and private sector groups domestically and internationally.
“My experiences in India most certainly helped shaped my career and my dedication to FNE’s mission of addressing inequalities and building capacity in underserved communities in the developing world,” says Albert.
“Through light and hope, Stonehill taught us to put social justice first and to so in a meaningful way,” he adds.
The ties between Campus Ministry and FNE remain strong with co-founders Cipoletti and DeSousa set to participate in a H.O.P.E. virtual social justice and active citizenship formation program this academic year.
“In January, Mike and Anna will assist us in developing programming that focuses on community development in Nicaragua and in Canto Grande outside of Lima, Peru where the Congregation of Holy Cross have a mission. Our students will learn directly from Anna and Mike about the work of social justice and service,” says MaryAnne Davey, assistant director of Campus Ministry.
For Cipoletti, the bonds and worldview created while at Stonehill continue to drive him forward in helping to make a difference in the world through FNE.
“At times it feels as if the world is filled with darkness, but through our work, we seek to emerge from this cloud and into a new tomorrow not as people coming to rescue but as equals—folks living on the same planet moving forward in a steady quest for peace, justice and equality,” he concludes.